Chandimal vice captain and Twenty20 captain:

MATHEWS FIRST JOE TO CAPTAIN SL cricket

‘Slinger’ Malinga vice captainTwenty20:

Elmo Rodrigopulle reporting

The Sri Lankan cricket selectors ended all speculation when they gave all rounder Angelo Mathews the nod to captain Sri Lanka against Bangladesh in the Two match Test series and the one-day internationals.

The all rounder will have the young and highly talented right hand batsman and wicket keeper Dinesh Chandimal as his deputy.

Guessing game on

Together they should form a formidable duo and take the game forward. When Mahela Jayewardene quit as captain of the Test and one-day team after the Australian tour, speculation was on as to who was going to replace Jayewardene.

The guessing game was on with little known names too being tossed into the captaincy hat. Bu like we have been saying, there was no need for the selectors to look beyond Mathews.

Josephian Mathews was fortunate to be vice captain to Jayewardene. Jayewardene was easily the best captain produced by Sri Lanka and Mathews would have learnt watching the clever Jayewardene captaining.

And Jayawardene had made it known that there was no bêtter individual to captain the country than Mathews once he steps down. Mathews has a vital role to play in taking Sri Lanka cricket to the top. Incidentally he becomes the first Josephian to captain a Sri Lankan cricket team.

Good on the selectors

Good on the selectors that they appointed Dinesh Chandimal as vice captain to Mathews. Chandimal was unlucky not to play in the first Two Test matches against Australia on the recent tour.

But once Prasanna Jayewardene the regular wicket keeper was injured and then when Kumar Sangkkara suffered the same fate, the selectors on tour gloved Chandimal for the final Test in Sydney.

Twenty20 captain

And he came in with a loud roar, keeping brilliantly and then blasting a admirable and stylish un beaten half century when the innings was in tatters in the second innings. He has the makings of a future Sri Lanka captain. In addition to his duties as vice captain of the national team, he has been entrusted with the captaincy of the Twenty20 team which should be a good learning experience for him.

Slinger Lasith Malinga has also been rewarded for his consistency in the limited overs game by being named vice captain of the Sri Lanka Twenty20 team. He had a good run in the Big Bash League in Australia and followed it up bowling successfully in the one dayers against Australia.